What Source(s) Would You Recommend For Learning More About The Commercial Arena?
I'm a new investor. I just completed my first wholesale transaction. It was a SFR short sale ($70K) - rehab and resell ($133K). This is all great, extremely educational, etc. But what I really would like to get into is commercial. The problem is that I know nothing whatsoever about commercial. Are there any particular publications that you have found helpful? I'm pretty sharp & learn very quickly - just need to know where to start... Thanks!
It's way different than residential.
I was fortunate to have been introducted to a mentor, and I have seen any books the covered the material well.
The articles and forum posts are your best bet. There are no books that I would recommend, as the deals are so diverse and require out of the box thinking for them to work. The main thing to remember is that you are buying cash flow, present or future, then you are buying appraisal value. In residential its usually the other way around.
If you come across a deal, just post the scenario without the address or too much exact information, and all of us should be able to help you out.
Good Luck,
Kyle
Just curious...
You did one residential deal and then decided that you really wanted to get into commercial. You note that you have no commercial experience or knowledge.
How can you be so sure that commercial is the way to go? Based on what you do already know, what makes you interested in commercial? That might help narrow the advice a bit?
John
PS. Well done of the other deal!
[addsig]
Yeah well these guys are right about the lack of good textbooks. I'd start with a real estate law class at your local college. If they don't have a RE law class then try business law and their intro to RE course.
Most of the commercial books that are any good are written for college courses or law schools. Warren, Gorham and Lamont and John Wiley and a acouple of the other Legal publishing companies have catalogues of things that are sometimes helpful. I'm looking at my bookshelf here but everything seems to be 20 years old. Guess I've not been keeping up on the latest literature in the field. Do they still publish the Journal of Real Estate Investing?
Thanks for all the feedback. My short history in real estate is this... my in-laws introduced me to the Carlton Sheets course - with mentorship. A complete waste except for the fact that it steered me in the direction of real estate investing. I realized right away that I would have to have a partner with a lot of money (since I have none). Carlton sheets barely addresses this, btw. So I'm very pleased that I did my first deal almost completely on my own - except a lot of valuable input from the ShortSalePro in the Short Sale Forum.
Enough history... The verdict is this. I did not enjoy the contruction management portion of the project (I was my own general). I loved the bank negotiation & preparing my 50-page report w/ photo journal, etc. I also enjoyed working with the seller. However, the more I observe, I see that the best way to make an excellent cash flow over a long period of time is commercial investment.
I intend to continue doing SFR's for now simply to increase my capital & also because I like it, but expect to hear more questions from me.
I have found your discussions to be very informative so far.
It sounds like commercial real estate is very much more geared toward real estate law. So for now - I take your advice & immerse myself in that.
OK, here's where to go to read up on much of what you need to know about commercial RE:
1) "How to Make Money in Commercial Real Estate -- for the Small Investor", by Nicholas Masters.
2) Don't laugh: "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Real Estate Investing" by Stuart Leland Rider. A GREAT book, despite the dumb title.
3) If you're into developing: "From Dirt to Dollars -- An Entrepreneur's Guide to Commercial Real Estate Development" by Stuart Leland Rider. (If you want to build buildings from the ground up, buy this instead of #2. Otherwise, buy #2)
These are available at Amazon, except for #3, which is only available at the author's web site: http://www.riderland.com.
If you read the first one and one of the Rider books, I think you'll know everything you need to get going. The rest will come with experience...
CT
Thank you very much.